Book #10 of 2016: The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn #6) The fight scenes in this novel are top-notch, and it’s great to see new applications of the basic magic principles Sanderson introduced in the first Mistborn books, but the plot here is pretty thin. I love The Alloy of Law (Mistborn #4, …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson”
Book #9 of 2016: The Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks (Shannara #2) I originally read the first dozen or so Shannara books back in middle and high school, before finally getting tired of the series. I don’t remember any of them particularly well, but I did have this vague memory that Elfstones (the second …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks”
Book #6 of 2016: The Witch’s Boy by Kelly Barnhill The Witch’s Boy was a swing and a miss for me. This middle-grade fantasy had some interesting ideas, but they just weren’t well developed enough to cohere into a satisfying story. The whole book needed some major rewrites, and apparently it wasn’t even the author’s …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Witch’s Boy by Kelly Barnhill”
Book #4 of 2016: The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater (The Raven Cycle #2) Facebook memories reminded me that a year ago last night, I stayed up past midnight for finish an ebook I was hooked on: Firefight by Brandon Sanderson, an outstanding sequel to one of the freshest series premieres I had read the …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater”
Book #87 of 2015: Song of the Lioness by Tamora Pierce (Song of the Lioness #1-4) I read this fantasy quartet bound as a single hardback edition, only realizing later that the different sections of the story were actually separate books. For that reason — and because I’m piecing together this review from scattered notes …
Continue reading “Book Review: Song of the Lioness by Tamora Pierce”
Book #86 of 2015: The King’s Justice by Stephen R. Donaldson I wasn’t super blown away by either of the two (unrelated) novellas in this book, but even middle-of-the-road Stephen R. Donaldson is still worth the read. And there are echoes of many of the stories I love from his collection Reave the Just and …
Continue reading “Book Review: The King’s Justice by Stephen R. Donaldson”
Book #78 of 2015: Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn #5) I have mixed feelings about this Mistborn novel. For backstory: author Brandon Sanderson originally wrote a high fantasy trilogy in this setting, and plans to someday write another series where the technology has progressed to modern levels. He then added a standalone novel, …
Continue reading “Book Review: Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson”
Book #62 of 2015: Fire by Kristin Cashore (Graceling Realm #2) Just like its predecessor in this series, I have mixed feelings about Fire. There’s a lot it does right, including foregrounding gender discrimination issues in an organic way throughout the plot. But there’s so much falling action, with a good 20% of the book …
Book #59 of 2015: Fool’s Assassin by Robin Hobb (The Fitz and the Fool #1) Ideally, any sequel should justify its own existence. Why are we returning for another chapter of this story? What new developments require plucking these characters and their world out of the happily-ever-after stasis that we last left them in? Of …
Continue reading “Book Review: Fool’s Assassin by Robin Hobb”
Book #56 of 2015: Graceling by Kristin Cashore (Graceling Realm #1) This is a book that really grew on me as it went along, especially as its feminist themes became clear. Cashore has a lot to say about the major and minor oppressions that women can face in a male-dominated society, as well as the …
Continue reading “Book Review: Graceling by Kristin Cashore”
The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more